Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase NHS funding to address (1) ethnic, and (2) gender, inequalities in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.

The Government is providing an extra £33.9 billion in funding to support the NHS Long Term Plan. Implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan is one of the five priorities the Government has set for the National Health Service in the Accountability Framework to NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The NHS Long Term Plan sets out the clear action the NHS will take to strengthen its approach on health inequalities, which includes tackling inequalities on the protected characteristics of sex and race. NHS England and NHS Improvement have based their funding allocations to local areas on a more accurate assessment of health inequalities and unmet need. As a condition of receiving NHS Long Term Plan funding, all major national programmes and every local area across England will be required to set out specific measurable goals and mechanisms by which they will contribute to narrowing health inequalities.